A 17-year-old shot to death outside Central High School apparently lost his life because of an argument over a hat.

Memphis police on Tuesday charged 17-year-old Alvin Upchurch with first-degree murder in perpetration of a theft in the Jan. 13 shooting death of Terrance Wilkins.

Upchurch is being held without bond at Juvenile Court, spokesman Barry Mitchell said. He is due in court Feb. 8.

However, there are many questions police still haven't answered about the incident, including the significance of the hat, why it became a focal point of the dispute or why Upchurch faces that specific charge.

What is known is that, about 9 that night, Wilkins and a group of acquaintances -- including Upchurch -- left a basketball game between Central and Melrose High.

As the group was leaving, they got into an argument, apparently with someone in another group who was wearing the hat. Police believe that someone in the group with Upchurch and Wilkins either knocked the hat off or tried to take it.

The argument escalated, police said, leading Upchurch to pull a gun and begin firing shots. It doesn't appear, police said, that Upchurch was trying to shoot Wilkins, since they were in the same group.

Still, at least one of those shots struck Wilkins in the head in a parking lot near Linden and Bellevue, across the street from Central High.

Wilkins was taken to the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, and was pronounced dead the next day, a Saturday. However, he wasn't officially taken off life support until Sunday, police have said.

It remained unclear why Upchurch's charges included the "perpetration of a theft" aspect.

Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich said her office will examine that specific charge to see if it will remain in place.

"My office will be looking at the facts as we know them, that law, and take it from there," Weirich said late Tuesday.

Upchurch was also wanted in connection with an aggravated robbery that occurred Dec. 2 near Walker and College. Two men, armed with a gun, robbed a victim of his wallet and phone in that incident.

Mitchell said he wasn't able to comment about any past incidents on Upchurch's juvenile record.